1. Field
The present general inventive concept generally relates to an image forming apparatus and method that can control a queuing time according to a conversion time of print data.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus is an apparatus that prints print data generated by a terminal such as a computer, on a printable medium, such as printing paper. An image forming apparatus may be, for example, a copier, a printer, a facsimile, a multi-function peripheral (MFP) apparatus, and the like. Such an image forming apparatus converts received print data into bitmap image data, drives an image forming engine therein to pick up a paper when the bit map image data is prepared, and controls a laser scanning unit (LSU), a fuser, a developer, or the like, to perform an actual output operation.
When continuously printing multiple pages, a conversion time for the bitmap image data of each print page may vary from a normal output time of an image forming unit. In this case, the image forming apparatus stops operating to protect a developer roller and/or a LSU polygon motor thereof.
However, stopping and restarting the image forming engine takes a certain amount of time, according to the acceleration and deceleration control of the motor and roller. When the image forming apparatus stops, a time period referred to as a “first page out time” (FPOT) is generally needed to restart a printing job.
Since the queuing time is fixed in the image forming apparatus of the related art, when continuously printing multiple pages involving complicated image conversion, an image forming engine may be stopped and restarted successively for each page.